Showing papers in "Comparative Political Studies in 1979"
TL;DR: Laakso and Taagepera as discussed by the authors proposed a measure called effective number of parties (effective q) to measure the effect of parties' size on the stability of a political system.
Abstract: The qEffectiveq Number of Parties: qA Measure with Application to West Europeq Laakso, Markku;Taagepera, Rein Comparative Political Studies; Apr 1, 1979; 12, 1; Proouest pg. 3 “EFFECTIVE” NUMBER OF PARTIES A Measure with Application to West Europe MARKKU LAAKSO University of Helsinki REIN TAAGEPERA University of California, Irvine I s a large number of parties bound to destabilize a political system (Duverger, 1954) or is it not (e.g., Lijphart, 1968; Nilson, 1974)? Before this question can be answered, the number of parties must be operationally defined in a way that takes into account their relative size. Such a number is also needed if one wants to detect trends toward fewer or more numerous parties over time, or the effects of a proposed change in electoral rules. This article presents ways to calculate this important political variable, calculates it for I42 post-1944 elections in 15 West European countries, and analyzes its possible effect on stability. We often talk of two-party and multiparty systems. We further dis- tinguish three~ or four—party systems in some countries, and even talk (e. g., Blondel, 1969: 535) of a two-and-a-half-party system whenthere is a third party of marginal size. Mexico could be viewed as a one-and-a- half-party system because the PR1 is so much larger than all other parties. Rather than take the number of all existing parties, including even the very smallest, one visibly has a need for a number that takes into account their relative size. We will call this number the “effective number of parties,” using the word “effectiveq somewhat in the sense pressure group literature uses it when talking about “effective access” (Truman, 195]: 506), but even more in the operational sense physicists give it when they talk about effective current (Richards et al., 1960: 594), COMPARATIVE POLITICAL STUDIES. Vol. I2 No. I. April 1979 3-27 © I979 Sage Publications. Inc. Copyright (c) 2000 Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) Sage Inc.
2,842 citations
120 citations
56 citations
47 citations
27 citations
26 citations
24 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined whether social participation significantly promotes or is associated with political participation, particularly voting and attitudes supportive of it, in rural Japan, and indicated political socialization processes that may explain whatever relationship exists.
Abstract: well-established body of research points to social participation A in formal organizations and in civic events as an important concomitant of mass political participation in the United States (e.g., Verba and Nie, 1972; Olsen, 1972, 1970; Hastings, 1965, 1954; Milbrath, 1965; Erbe, 1964; Kornhauser, 1959; Berelson et al., 1954; Maccoby, 1958; Freeman and Showel, 1951). Indeed, as Verba and Nie (1972: 174) state: “A rich associational life has been considered the hallmark of American democracy.” Comparative studies affirm a similar relationship in other Western democracies (Olsen, 1974: Nie et al., 1969; Almond and Verba, 1965). However, the extent to which this pattern holds in nonWestern societies has received far less examination. The purpose of this article is, first, to determine if social participation significantly promotes or is associated with political participation, particularly voting and attitudes supportive of it, in rural Japan, and, second, to indicate political socialization processes that may explain whatever relationship exists. Japan offers an important case for comparison since it is a highly industrialized democracy whose political culture until the last three decades has been characterized as“parochiaP
22 citations
TL;DR: For example, this paper pointed out that the relative absence of a sense of association makes it extremely difficult lor peasants in this area to organize to meet thechallenges of the modern world, and that it is unfortunate but true that peasant organizations have been difficult to establish in Latin America.
Abstract: S ocial scientists have long characterized peasants as politically passive and uninvolved in day to day political activity. Latin American peasants in particular have been singled out as politically nonparticipant. For example, anthropologists Diaz and Potter (1967: 159) state that "In Latin America . . . the striking thing is the relative absence of a sense of association, which makes it extremely difficult lor peasants in thisarea to organize to meet thechallengesofthe modern world." Similarly. sociologists Landsberger and Hewitt (1970: 559) emphasize that "It is unfortunate but true that peasant organizations have been difficult to establish in Latin America." Political scientists
19 citations
8 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the impact of agricultural policy on political attitudes and behavior of farmers, tenants, and laborers in two villages of Rajasthan state in India was studied. And the authors highlighted the organizational correspondence between agriculture, rural society, and its politics: a correspondence that is strikingly evident during change.
Abstract: ithin comparative politics there has always been interest in the \\V relationship between socioeconomic development and political change. Underlying the pluralist approach is the assumption that development brings about new patterns of mobilization, conflict, and demands for political participation. As newly formed interest groups vie for influence and benefits, participatory institutions help contain the tensions generated by development, permitting all groups to affect policy and patterns of distribution to derive the benefits of development. Thrchgh participation, the welfare function of growth can be assured.' This article interjects a note of caution. Analyzed below is how particular policies for agricultural development specifically can strengthen existing powerful groups which in turn are able to use the political process to enhance their own interests often at the expense of those below them. This does not deny the importance of nonagricultural variables. Rather, it underlines the organizational correspondence between agriculture, rural society, and its politics: a correspondence that is strikingly evident during change. The following discussion deals with these issues in the context of agricultural and political development in India. Data are from a study of the impact of agricultural policy on political attitudes and behavior of farmers, tenants, and laborers in two villages of Rajasthan state. The findings, however, have application beyond this geographical context.
TL;DR: The island of Jamaica, having been a British colony for over 300 T years, became an independent nation-state on August 6, 1962 as discussed by the authors and faced the decisions of nationhood, that is, those decisions that confront new national leaders when they come to power, replace the imperial caste, and assume the tasks of building a modern state.
Abstract: he island of Jamaica, having been a British colony for over 300 T years, became an independent nation-state on August 6, 1962. Like the leaders in all new states-about 80 since World War IIJamaican leaders faced the decisions of nationhood, that is, those decisions that confront new national leaders when they come to power, replace the imperial caste, and assume the tasks of building a modern state. Among such decisions are those dealing with social stratification and inequality. Leaders must answer, “How much inequality exists?”
TL;DR: For example, the authors argues that the two great transformations of our age, the development of commercial market economies and growth of centralized states, have threatened to shatter the traditional subsistence bases of the world's peasant societies.
Abstract: t seems perfectly clear that the two great transformations of our age, the development of commercial market economies and growth of centralized states, have threatened to shatter the traditional subsistence bases of the world's peasant societies. Barrington Moore, Jr. (1966) and Eric Wolf (1969) both have documented how the commercialization of agriculture has undermined the locally rooted precapitalist subsistence rights of peasants despite the tenacious resistance of rural dwellers to this new amoral market economy. And Christopher Hill (1972) and E. P. Thompson (1963) have written convincingly of how those European peasants, uprooted by capitalism, became a laboring poor people who could not recapture their customary means of sustenance under capitalist states. Thus, much of the world's peasantry has disappeared, painfully, with the rise of industrial capitalism. There also seems t o be a consensus among scholars of varying persuasions that peasants have been the losers regardless of the forms of polity that have directed the development of capitalism. For Marx